'Black Panther' sequel is 1st Marvel film to feature Hispanic villain, highlights female empowerment

'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' has debuted in theaters and is getting serious praise.

Advance ticket sales for the movie added up to over $43 million before it opened in theaters, which was expected considering it is the sequel to a motion picture that grossed over $1.3 billion.

This sequel is well worth buying a ticket and spending two and a half hours at the theater.

No spoilers here, but the death of acting legend Chadwick Boseman, who starred as 'King T'Challa' in the first film, left a void at the core of a story.

"With the loss of Chadwick Boseman who was our titular character, essentially the ensemble, the burden of the narrative has had to fall on the ensemble to carry the movie and the women have always been the backbone of that narrative," actor Winston Duke, who plays 'M'Baku', said.

Director Ryan Coogler honors Boseman and his character, who is also known as the one and only 'Black Panther', in a beautiful way, all while highlighting the movie's female characters.

Some of the women in the cast spoke to the theme of female empowerment in the land of Wakanda.

"You see their personalities, their characters, their, their personhood, their humanhood be stretched and challenged and go thru difficult things-which is important with that type of representation we rarely see," Danai Gurira, who plays 'Okoye', said.

The new Marvel movie also made history as the first to feature a Hispanic villain, but the underwater king, 'Talokan', never seems truly evil.

"When you go to the movies and you watch this character, it's tricky to put a label over him, you know?," Tenoch Huerta Mejia, who plays 'Namor', said.

The leader, with wings on his feet, and 'M'Baku' are the only male characters with much to do in the film, but Marvel fans didn't seem to mind.

"I just really love to see a black woman superhero and see how that narrative gets pushed in a really dope kinda cool way," college student Kayla Battles said.

'Wakanda Forever' amounts to the biggest and most expensive female empowerment story in Hollywood history.

Here's a free piece of advice -- the bigger the screen you have to watch the movie on, the better. 'IMAX' is definitely worth the extra few dollars for this movie.

'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' is from Disney, Marvel and is owned by the same company as ABC7.